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If you hadn't noticed yet, Tweedle-dee, Tweedle-dumb and Tweedle-how-stupid-are-you-to-take-a- fleet-of-jets and their scary Op-Eds haven't done anything to Save GM or either of the other not-so-Big Three. The Senate is not pleased with their behavior. But here comes Mitt Romney, "favorite son" of Michigan. The guy who took tons of auto-exec money and said this before the Michigan primary: galleryPost('mittrompander', 6, 'Do You Think He Is Saying Anything About Bankruptcy?'); "I want to bring Michigan back. I am not willing to sit back and say 'too bad for Michigan, too bad for the car industry, too bad for the people who lost their jobs, they are gone forever.' I will not rest when I am president of the United States until Michigan is brought back." January is a long time ago in Romneyville as Mitt said this in the NY Times earlier this week: IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday...
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MSNBC is reporting President-current Bush has said he'll consider amending the $25 billion automaker low-interest loan guarantee program to allow the automakers to get the money right now and use it for whatever they need. The decision is being made because many economists say helping US automakers is a big part of preventing the economy from going even further into the hole. This comes a day after would-be Detroit savior President-elect Barack Obama, who has said an automaker bailout is super important , met with President Bush to discuss steps he'd like to see taken, including part two of his three-part economic strategy — help for the auto industry . Why the sudden change from the Bush administration? According to the NY Times , the President would consider signing a stimulus package and help out the auto industry if Obama dropped his opposition to a free-trade agreement with Colombia. Maybe. Mr. Bush indicated at the meeting that he might support some aid and a broader...
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newVideoPlayer("/obamacar.flv", 506, 423,""); It looks like it was a good thing Michigan delivered up the electoral votes to help elect Barack Obama, because he's just made saving the auto industry part two of a three-part plan to address the nation's economic woes. In his first press conference today as President-elect, Obama whipped Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm out on stage, telling the world he hopes to approve the $25 billion in assistance for retooling. In addition, Detroit's new diety claimed he plans to make additional policy options to help U.S. automakers create fuel-efficient cars a "high priority" for the transition team. That's good news for Detroit given today's bad ...err... awful ... news. Although after Wagoner's remarks earlier, we're hoping there will be an industry to save after he's inaugurated. Full remarks from Detroit's personal Jesus below: The news coming out of the auto industry this week reminds...
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Through the end of April, Chrysler had dropped fleet sales by 45,000 vehicles, a 17% decline from a year earlier, GM reduced its fleet sales by approximately 40,000 vehicles, a 14% drop and Ford posted a 9% decline in fleet sales, translating to 25,000 vehicles. Yes friends, Detroit automakers are avoiding the temptation to suckle at the teat of fleet sales, even in the face of significant sales drops. While the sales reductions will appear as another negative on an already battered sales report, fewer fleet sales — especially to daily rental fleets — should improve residual values for the "Detroit 3" in the long run. And we're all for the hometown folks taking a longer-term view of things for once — but the rental sales aren't the only part of the automakers non-retail strategy. While daily rental fleet sales have dropped, corporate and government fleet sales remain an important part of domestic automakers' business strategy. Chrysler spokesperson...
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Saturn has gone and made its Vue Hybrid even more hybrid-tastic. Now equipped with GM's advanced two-mode hybrid technology, the new 2009 Saturn Vue Green Line 2 Mode Hybrid promises a fifty percent increase in fuel mileage over the standard V6 model. All of that efficiency comes from a 3.6L V6 equipped with VVT and direct injection and not one, but two 55 kW electric motors integrated into the transmission. Those motors provide assist at different vehicle speeds in order to minimize fuel consumption. Pretty clever, eh? Our only problem with this whole thing is the page long name. We'll be digging around in the new Saturn starting Sunday and you can follow at our Detroit Auto Show tag page. Feel free to hit up the RSS feed for your RSS reader or just keep refreshing till your browser crashes. galleryPost('saturntwomode', 8, '2009 Saturn Vue Green Line 2 Mode Hybrid'); 2009 SATURN VUE GREEN LINE 2 MODE HYBRID WILL BE THE WORLD'S MOST FUEL-EFFICIENT V-6 SUV GM's...
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We already knew the 2007 Buick Riviera Concept would be here for the Detroit Auto Show, but the China born concept made it's US debut here last night. Originally unveiled at Auto Shanghai 2007, the Buick Riviera Concept was shown off to press by Ed Welburn and the gang at the Max M. Fisher Theater ahead of the show. We were hoping for a green light for US production from Mr. Welburn, but nothing like that was mentioned. Oh well, we can dream can't we? Anyway, there's a press release after the jump and we'll have some fine photos of this Chinese carry out and lots of other show coverage you can follow at our Detroit Auto Show tag page. If you're more net savvy, hit up the RSS feed for your fave feed reader -- or just keep madly hitting refresh on our main page -- whatever works best for you. galleryPost('rivieradetroit', 9, '2007 Buick Riviera Concept in Detroit'); DETROIT - The Buick Riviera, a stunning concept car designed to showcase Buick's new...
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Commenter 00Solstice mentioned this 1980 Time article in yesterday's Malaise-o-riffic DOTS post , and we think it's a must-read for anyone following the recent twists and turns of Detroit's automaker drama: "Nothing less than the survival of the U.S. auto industry in its present form depends on the success of these new 1981 models." [Time Magazine]
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With IndyCar's Saturday practice session over here at the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix it's time for the ALMS cars to get a chance to burn up some rubber and turn a tire or two into little rubber pellets for collection in the corners of the Belle Isle...
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